The Mishnah on the Women’s Balcony
At the conclusion of the first festival day of Sukkot, they [the people] descended to the Women’s Court, and they would make there a great preparation.1 There were golden candelabras there with four golden bowls at the top of each, and four ladders to each, and four youths from the young priests with jars of oil holding 120 log, which they poured into the bowls.
Notes
[Generally understood as a reference to the preparation of balconies for women mentioned in t. Sukkah 4:1. Hebrew tikkun, “preparation,” can also mean “correction” or “enactment.” The Babylonian Talmud (b. Sukkah 51b) understands tikkun here as the decision to separate the women from the men. Although this mishnah suggests that some preparation took place on an annual basis, m. Middot 2:5 describes the women’s balcony as a permanent structure.—Ed.]
Credits
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
